5 Ways to Make Your Wedding Flowers More Sustainable

29/9/2024
Written by Lisa Cotte

Sustainability is a key theme in the wedding industry, and one which is often fraught with many opinions. By their nature, weddings are a luxury, and rightly so. As a wedding vendor, I truly celebrate the idea of bringing together such joy, happiness and love in a single occasion and fully support making these celebrations as beautiful as possible. However, it is undeniable that a single wedding uses many resources, many of which could be considered by some as wasteful.

I have come to the conclusion that there is a balance to living, working and celebrating in a sustainable way; and that there is no need for an ‘all or nothing’ approach. We can balance our needs, wants, desires and happiness with what we are able to do for the planet; enjoying indulgences whilst also maintaining a mindful attitude towards the environment. There are many ways in which we can limit the impact of weddings, with a particular focus on floral design, without compromising on beauty or enjoyment. Keep reading for our five top tips…

1 | Foam Free Techniques

One of the biggest (and most well-known) culprits when it comes to the carbon footprint of wedding and event flowers is the techniques that are used to create the arrangements, before the flowers are even touched. Before the environmental impacts were known, floral-foam was widespread in the floral industry; a useful and practical product which keeps flowers hydrated without needing another water source. However, floral foam is essentially a single-use plastic; it doesn’t biodegrade, meaning it stays in the system for years before being broken down. It cannot be reused or recycled, so will end up in landfill. The good news is that there are now many alternatives to floral foam; florists are more creative and knowledgeable about alternative techniques which often work just as well (if not better) than floral foam. If you are an engaged couple looking to make sustainable choices, ask your florist about sustainable floristry techniques and whether your wedding arrangements can be made without the use of floral foam. It is also important to check with your venue that they allow vases of water rather than foam. Some venues have strict policies on this so be sure to check. If they don’t allow an alternative water source your florist may be forced to use foam!

2 | British-Grown Flowers

Where your flowers are grown can have a huge environmental impact due to the travel, packaging and preservation processes associated with importing flowers from overseas. Vast amounts of plastic are used to ensure the flowers aren’t damaged in transit, chemicals may be used to preserve them and they are either driven or flown across the word; resulting in a sizeable carbon footprint. Therefore, considering using British-grown flowers is an excellent way to mitigate this impact. During the British season (generally mid April-October) the range of flowers that can be grown is incredible and there are so many amazing growers on both small and larger scales that we need to utilise. If you are a florist or couple looking to DIY your wedding flowers, Flowers From The Farm is an amazing resource and directory for discovering British growers in your local area. As a couple it is important to ask your florist where they source your flowers and whether it is possible to use British. As well as having a drastically smaller carbon footprint, British flowers will be fresher, more beautiful, and more highly scented than their mass-grown counterparts.

3 | Seasonality

Although British-grown is always preferable, this isn’t always possible and we do import many of the flowers we use for our events. Large-scale weddings often require hundreds of stems of the same length and quality, and at the moment this isn’t achievable from British-grown alone. It is also much trickier with winter weddings, when the UK climate forces growing to slow. Therefore when we do use imported flowers, it is important to us to consider the seasonality. When flowers are in season, growers don’t need to mimic the conditions in which these flowers would naturally grow, therefore using less electricity, energy and resources.

4 | Repurposing

This is a method that has the added benefit of helping your budget as well as the environment. Choosing arrangements that can be repurposed and utilised throughout your day means that you are using less flowers overall - essentially using your arrangements in different ways; helping both the environment (by using less flowers overall) and your pocket. Some examples may be simply moving urn arrangements from your ceremony to adorn your wedding breakfast or reusing aisle meadows by placing around the cake table. There are always ways to repurpose and reimagine how your floral designs can be used; meaning that you’ll get better value for money per arrangement.

5 | After The Big Day

So much effort and planning happens before the wedding that what happens after the big day can be easy to overlook. However weddings can be wasteful if we don’t put proper thought into where the flowers will end up in the days following your wedding. If your arrangements have been in sufficient water and still look fabulous the day after I always encourage couples to offer the flowers to family and friends to enjoy. If this isn’t possible there are companies like Confetti Club who work with florists to turn leftover wedding flowers into natural confetti; thereby reducing waste with all profits being donated to charity.

To conclude, when it comes to weddings (as well as life in general), if we all make a mindful effort to try to be a little more sustainable, and make sensible and informed choices, these little efforts will create big change. Discuss the importance of sustainability with your wedding planner, florist and other suppliers to work together to create a wedding that is both respectful of the planet and as beautiful and joyful as can be.